As the Church’s year draws to a close, we look to the future and to our destiny. We have the great vision of the last judgement given to us by St Matthew as the very last teaching of Jesus before his passion. The vision is a gathering of all the nations, which will be followed right at the end of the Gospel with the risen Jesus commissioning his disciples to go out and make disciples of all the nations. That task accomplished, there is at the end the separation into sheep and goats. The past has often put an emphasis on how it is to be among the goats, hence November became the month of All Souls. The Church though has always begun the month with the feast of All Saints so let us reclaim November as the time when we do remember our saints. There are those whom the Church has formally recognised as saints by canonisation, but we must always think more widely, the many millions of saints over the centuries, the great cloud of witnesses as the letter to the Hebrews tells us and then those who have been a particular inspiration to us, especially perhaps within our own families.
So it is that various religious families, countries and orders, have their particular celebration of their saints during the month. The feast of All Carmelite Saints is on the 14th November. While as the Rule reminds us that all are called to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ, we have our own Carmelite way outlined by the Rule of St Albert. For over eight hundred years it has been a proven guide to holiness, to becoming a saint. To faithfully follow the Carmelite way is to live a life of hope, the fulfilment of a life of faith. The letter to the Hebrews celebrates the life of faith of the ancestors but we can read this more widely as we look at the faith and hope of all who have encouraged us, the cloud of witnesses I mentioned. That for Hebrews is our encouragement to persevere, looking to Jesus who is the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
All our reflections over the past months (and I am writing this long before November) have shown the importance of the Carmelite saints to so many who follow the Carmelite way. At the head of course are our patrons, Mary and Elijah and our three doctors, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and Thérèse. I have not been able to make an inventory of all who have been mentioned but I note that Br Laurence of the Resurrection has been mentioned several times. He got caught up in French spiritual controversies and so was never put forward for canonisation. Yet his Practice of the Presence of God has had enormous influence and it is good to see him highlighted. His teaching is a solid down to earth spirituality, similar in many ways to Thérèse. Mentioning him is a reminder of the many important Carmelite teachers who have never been canonised. From the reform of Touraine, for example we can think of John of St Samson and Michael of St Augustine whose influence continues to be important. To this we must add the many Carmelites we have known who have inspired us. A visit to the cemetery in Aylesford is a reminder of just how many I have known over the years and whose stories we love to tell.
“By their way of life you give us example, by communion with them your give us companionship” so says the Preface for Saints at Mass. We know they have completed their journey, they are those already singing the praises of God in hymn whilst we continue our journey of hope. The Apocalypse at the end of the New Testament is a presentation of this journey of the Church through time and history. Every now and again though, the Apocalypse reminds us of those who have already won the victory and share the triumph of Christ, breaking into a hymn of praise. The reading for All Saints comes early in the story, great disasters and calamites here on earth will follow. But already there is a great multitude from every nation clothed in white robes worshipping God say “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving… to our God for ever and ever”..We can be confident that there are more than a few Carmelite white cloaks among them.
Every time we gather to celebrate Mass we are already anticipating and joining in with that great song of heavenly praise as we await the day when, with the vision of St Matthew, we await the Lord’s call to join those blessed by his Father, entering eternal life. Yet with so much encouragement around us, we share the cry of the Church at the end of the Apocalypse “Come Lord Jesus” as we await the hour “when we stand before you, Saints among the Saints in the halls of heaven, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and with all the Saints…”
Fr Patrick Lombard O.Carm
